Violin Sonata No.2 in B minor

In
1913 Respighi settled in Rome taking up the position of Professor of
Composition at the Liceo
Musicale di S Cecilia. He
displayed a natural flair in the classroom and his lessons in
advanced compositional technique were imbued with his passion for
analysing, arranging and orchestrating themes from the past. It was
here in his classes of 1915 that he was to meet the young composer
and singer Elsa Olivieri Sangiacomoin. Their relationship blossomed
into a deep friendship based on mutual creativity and they married in
1919. We can only speculate as to whether the excited intimacy of the
violin sonata draws on the emotional charge of their relationship
through this period.

The
Sonata was written during the War and contemporaneously with his
first great success, the tone-poem Fountains
of Rome, with its overt
homage to Richard Strauss. The success of Fountains
depended on the support
of Toscanini, who took it on after a disastrous premiere. Unlike
Elgar, who was rendered almost totally musically silent by the War,
Respighi kept composing throughout, creditably unconcerned that his
music owed so much to German composers.

The
first movement is unabashedly romantic in tone, its expression
markings overtly sentimental, the oft repeated dolce
expressivo
and con
passione, the
lusingando
signalling
a caressing and alluring style. The opening theme is sweet and
buoyant, its rapid Siciliana character leading us through subtly
shifting time signatures. The expansion through the agitato
section is intoxicatingly restless, yet is concluded by a sweet
meandering melody, exploring the violin’s upper register before
sinking gently into the rousing concluding recapitulation of the main
theme.

The
opening theme of the Andante
espressivo is
one of tranquil poise, leading to the unsettled jubilation of the
second appassionato
theme and ensuing turbulent acceleration of tempo. A miniature
cadenza follows and its ebb heralds the reinstatement of the first
theme.

In
the final Passacaglia
Respighi’s academic inclinations towards early music and love of
stylistic pastiche are evident. From the opening bar, through the
resulting theme and variations we can clearly hear his tendency to
sit late romantic sensibilities atop the compositional techniques of
the baroque. We are guided through a bewildering array of metrical
modulations, the traditional monolithic character of the
passacaglia’s ground-bass rent asunder by frenzied and sudden changes
in sentiment.